FEMIP, the EIB's financial arm dedicated to the socio-economic development of the Mediterranean partner countries, has launched an ambitious programme of technical assistance designed to encourage the use of public-private partnership (PPP) contracts in the Mediterranean, kicking off with an expert seminar on "Perspectives of PPP in the Mediterranean region” in Paris on 10 February.

A press release said the seminar would conclude a study on “the legal and financial framework of PPPs in the partner countries”.

ThePPP programme, to run between 2011 and 2013, aims at helping Mediterranean partner countries to develop their ability rapidly to mobilize the private sector and their attractiveness to foreign direct investment (FDI). It seeks to deliver the following:

- A study, to be published at the end of May 2011, providing a regional analysis of the experiences of PPPs, and a review of legal, administrative or financial factors adversely affecting the use of such arrangements in each

- Finally, FEMIP will establish, in four selected countries, the terms of reference for further technical assistance aimed at defining and managing the market call for a series of pilot projects implementing priority investments as part of national or sectoral PPP policies identified during the previous phase.

FEMIP was set up in 2002 by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and is today the main actor in the economic and financial partnership between the EU and the Mediterranean, with more than €12.5 million to back investments in the nine Mediterranean partner countries. FEMIP places greater emphasis on helping to foster private sector activity in the region as a way to underpin growth and generate employment opportunities. Financial support is directed towards private sector projects and also to public projects that help to create an enabling environment for the private sector to flourish.